


The Long Road to Freedom 3: Birth of an Empire

by celtious



Series: The Long Road to Freedom [3]
Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:41:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24975508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celtious/pseuds/celtious
Summary: Sequel to "The Long Road to Freedom: Fire on the Water." Final installment.With Kintsuke again by his side, Sesshoumaru resumes his conquest of power. A new adversary rears its head in Musashi, and Sesshoumaru must make allies of old enemies or risk losing everything he now holds dear, including his own life.
Relationships: Sesshoumaru (InuYasha)/Original Character(s), Sesshoumaru (InuYasha)/Original Female Character(s)
Series: The Long Road to Freedom [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/387406
Comments: 4
Kudos: 27





	1. Clarifications

***

Previously: 

"Jaken," he snipped.

The imp shuffled forward.

"Y-Yes, milord?"

"Tea."

The imp blinked at him for a moment, and Kintsuke's hand paused on the cast iron handle, puzzled.

"Er…sire?"

"Can you not see their cups are empty?"

Jaken looked, finding Kintsuke's, indeed, empty, but Rekkonji's only half-so. The imp said nothing, however, and as Kintsuke relinquished the pot to straighten herself in a poised manner, Jaken glowered livid virulence at the floor and assumed the task she had attempted. While Kintsuke and Rekkonji cast awkward glances here and there, Sesshoumaru simply closed his eyes, enjoying the warmth and flavor of the liquid in his own cup.

Perhaps now, Kintsuke would understand his opinion of her.

*** 

Sesshoumaru remained with Rekkonji for the next couple of days, drawing out strategy, and they both found great amusement and revelation in the Warmaster’s test of the half-breed, a simple sparring match to assess her abilities so as to better incorporate them into the plans.

“Hold nothing back,”

Kintsuke didn’t even try to hide her scowl of reservation.

“Are…You sure?”

Rekkonji’s firm nod helped her push aside her doubts for the moment. If he wanted to see what she was made of, then he was going to find out. On a plateau, a bit further down the face of the mountain, the four of them set up; Sesshoumaru and Jaken to the side to observe, and Kintsuke and Rekkonji at an appropriate distance across from each other.

They bowed respectfully, Rekkonji’s a bit shallower than Kintsuke’s, but she didn’t mind; he was still deserving of the deference.

He was just as quick as she remembered, coming at her with his favored polearm weapon. While her twin tonfa gave her a bit of an advantage, they prevented her from being able to grapple without abandoning them, and this caused her several issues at the beginning of the fight.

She could block all day, dodge and dance out of the way, but finding an opening proved challenging. Finally, she tucked one of her tonfa away and just grabbed the polearm as Rekkonji gave a thrust. He felt the sparking of her youki and abandoned the weapon a moment before her ravenous green and black flames consumed it, leaving only the warped and melting weapon head to clatter to the earth.

To the side, Sesshoumaru’s brow twitched with interest.

The battle continued in such a manner, Kintsuke managing an answer for whatever Rekkonji threw at her, at least for a time. He slipped up, however, allowed her too close, and as her claws raked across his face, splattering his blood across the rocks, the tone of the fight shifted.

Deep in his chest, Rekkonji growled, and Sesshoumaru took quickly to the air to be out of the way as the two combatants clashed again. From there, he watched Rekkonji display every reason he had been the Inu no Taishou’s Warmaster for so long, and Kintsuke, in turn, justify all of Sesshoumaru’s patience and allowance with her.

It wasn’t enough to deflect and dodge, however, and soon enough, the old Jackal drew blood of his own, shredding through Kintsuke’s hakama and crushing her cuirass. As his claws buried in her exposed belly, she gripped his hair firmly and ignited them both in her green and black flames. Rekkonji’s snarls of pain pleased her, and as he ripped out of her grasp, she gave chase, using the length and angles of her single tonfa, to maintain contact with a part of him.

Finally, he’d had enough, grabbing her by a mass of hair and flinging her across the plateau. His eyes lined with red as he healed the cracked and peeling flesh where her flames had kissed him, but he could not repair the scorched and tattered ends of his clothes.

Kintsuke recovered from her tumble, inspecting the gouge Rekkonji had left in her belly for a moment before her shimmering white flames ignited there, licking out from the wound at the surrounding skin as they stitched her back together faster than her natural healing ever could have done. It took its toll, though, sapping her reserve youki, and Rekkonji found his strategy for success through it.

He took his time, gauging his strikes and timing to be the most devastating, and her shimmering fire responded as he expected it would. Soon enough, she was out of energy to heal, Rekkonji’s superior speed and stamina allowing him to dive in, inflict his wounds, and dodge away again before she could burn him.

Once or twice, she anticipated his lunge, igniting a burst of her damaging green or protective purple, but he had the patience to wear her down until, finally, she fell to his onslaught.

She wasn’t out for long, thankfully, waking to the sounds of Sesshoumaru and Rekkonji’s discussion. They paused as she pulled her aching body to her feet again, Rekkonji tossing her haori over once she was stable. Still low on energy, she had difficulty fighting off the cold as well as the males could and shuddered even as she tucked herself into the black cloth.

“Not bad, Kitsuke.”

Rekkonji’s tone was some-what approving as he continued to heal the wounds she’d managed to inflict on him. Sesshoumaru said nothing at all.

Back in Rekkonji’s home, they settled in again for tea and soup. A quick glance from Sesshoumaru ensured the imp was mindful of their needs, their cups never seeming to empty. Although still dedicated to his master, Jaken could not dismiss the indignant humiliation he felt in being forced to service something as repulsive as the half-breed female, and he could find nothing to justify his master’s consideration for the thing. Not wishing to suffer his master’s reprimand; however, he kept his mouth shut and his mind quiet.

The current conversation came to an end, and Sesshoumaru let the silence fall for a moment before initiating one of his own, glancing at Kintsuke as she sipped her soup.

“Those white flames…”

His trailing tone conveyed his silent question.

She rested her hands in her lap, still cradling the bowl, and took a moment before answering. “They’re a different application of the core ability I possess. The details are something of a long story.”

“Have you developed other applications?”

“In addition to the green and purple, you mean?”

Sesshoumaru gave a slight nod.

“Yes, a few. I am currently working on another.”

Rekkonji rose a brow.

“Similar to the ones Zheng had?”

She nodded.

“Exactly those. Assuming one can see the prism, adapting the different shades and their attributes into the flames is just a matter of practice.”

“Prism?”

It was Sesshoumaru’s turn to question again.

Kintsuke sighed slightly and did her best to explain, building on the analogy of light through crystal and the males seemed to understand. At their questioning, she explained about the five basic hues, -green, for destroying; purple, for deflecting and protection; blue, for negating poisons and miasma; white, for healing; and pink, for barriers-, and her attempted mastery of the last one.

Sesshoumaru was all but a statue as he listened, meditating on the details of Kintsuke’s power and allowing Rekkonji to continue asking the questions he himself had.

“Out of curiosity…” The Warmaster examined his cup as he spoke. “How did you end up tangled in Zheng’s schemes in the first place? You could have left Shanghai at any time.”

Kintsuke blinked down at the soup that had gone cold in her lap.

“…No, I couldn’t.”

Rekkonji tilted his head in silent question, and she sighed again.

“It…It’s complicated.”

Sensing the intense curiosity and seemingly endless patience from her audience, she chose to start from the beginning.

“I’d like to say it began with Zheng, but really it started with Daiyufan, his hanyou daughter; my mother. None of his previous children could see the prism, so he thought to try having a half-breed. When he found she couldn’t produce any flames at all, he kept her hidden in the fortress. Needless to say, she didn’t appreciate that.”

She set her cup to the side for Jaken to grudgingly refill.

“When she found a way to escape, she fled to the island, hoping he would forget about her. He was not so generous. I don’t know why he gave chase, but with my father’s help, she avoided being found here.”

Rekkonji stroked his goatee.

“So that is what brought him here…”

Kitsuke nodded and continued.

“Eventually, he gave up and went back to Shanghai. He had Shoucheng, a full-blood, who inherited the flames, but none of the hues. She wanted to find a way to change that. I don’t know how she got the idea that Daiyufan’s eyes would grant her the ability, but that thought brought her here. To me.”

She took a moment to retrieve her cup.

“And?” Rekkonji urged.

“We met, we ‘talked,’ and she tried to kill me. Before she died, I gathered enough information to lead me to Zheng. I figured I could convince him to help me train my fire. He did agree, but with conditions. I could either remain in Shanghai as his heir or seek out a female likely to produce a suitable replacement. I decided to remain as his heir, but to also seek a female. Once she had the child, I would be released from the agreement.”

Rekkonji narrowed his eyes slightly.

“A dangerous gamble.”

Kintsuke nodded.

“I didn’t realize just how dangerous it was until later on. I should have known something was very wrong when Shu-ting started producing the hued flames and he still would not release me.”

Sesshoumaru finally spoke.

“Why did you not simply escape?”

Kintsuke stared into her tea.

“I had begun sensing the other pups were in danger somehow. Raising them was my responsibility. I couldn’t bring myself to abandon them.”

Rekkonji canted his head.

“Is that why they were in Zheng’s quarters with the Lady Consort and Shu-Ting?”

A smile slowly split across Kintsuke’s face.

“Imagine the look on his face had he lived long enough to realize.”

Rekkonji grinned and laughed at Kintsuke’s shamelessness. After a moment of silence, Sesshoumaru spoke again.

“What is a Bifang?”

“A bird creature native to the continent that feeds on fire. Zheng planned to let it eat me and the other pups. To be honest, Rekkonji is the only reason any of us are still alive.”

She offered the old Warmaster a grateful expression, but he scrutinized her.

“It ran you clean through. How did you not drown?”

Kintsuke’s hand ghosted over her belly.

“The white flames aren’t affected by water, it seems. They can form a protective cocoon of sorts, and it held me until I was healed. My mastery over them was still tenuous at the time. I expect Zheng’s would have restored him much faster than mine did.”

“Are they stronger now?” Sesshoumaru asked.

“Reliably so.”

Sesshoumaru hid the slight smile pulling at his lips behind his cup. He continued to listen as Rekkonji interrogated her about the happenings at Mount Hachioka. Some of the details were different from what he’d overheard but proved Kintsuke was still as cunning and tenacious as ever. He allowed it to please him to the core. How much more would he accomplish, now that his hanyou had returned to his side?


	2. Juxtapose

In the days following their departure, Jaken learned quickly to not offend or upset his master’s hanyou tag-along. It was Rin all over again, but this time, the annoyance had a sharp tongue. The sky was their home as Sesshoumaru insisted without words that she put eyes on all he owned. She was appropriately amazed.

“Even the borders of the General’s territory were not so far-reaching,” she breathed.

Jaken smacked the back of her head with the nintoujou. She yipped.

“How dare you speak of your master’s honorable sire so casually!”

Sesshoumaru’s response was immediate, his irritation flaring in the imp’s head like a blazing migraine a moment before the daiyoukai sent him tumbling out of A-Un’s saddle. Kintsuke blinked down after the falling Jaken, then looked at Sesshoumaru.

“Will he survive?”

Sesshoumaru seemed to shrug.

Then, as they walked the old border of recently united territories...

“The Warmaster- er, Rekkonji,” she corrected herself, “said this area used to be under severe contention. How long did it take you to silence it?”

“Two days.”

She rose a brow.

“And how many did you kill…?”

“Enough.”

Sesshoumaru almost smiled, remembering that particular battle. The woman sighed and smirked wryly.

“Strangely different, and yet still the same.”

They paused, exchanging glances that made Jaken uncomfortable. He waddled to put himself between them, waving the nintoujou at her.

“What gives you the right to be so familiar with your master?!”

Four eyes fixed him sharply to the spot from either side. The woman seethed at him.

“And how presumptuous of you, to speak on your lord’s behalf? Understand me well, imp: no one owns me.”

She turned away, and Jaken sputtered, torn between shame and anger with this shrew. Sesshoumaru’s boot was especially vicious as he ground the imp’s face into the ground before continuing on with the hanyou.

_‘This is so unfair!!’_

***

For his part, Sesshoumaru was unwilling to let Jaken risk driving Kintsuke off, not after Sesshoumaru had been so patient and allowing to convince her to come at all. It took only a week for the imp to learn to hold his tongue, as he had with Rin. Even after he fell silent, however, Sesshoumaru continued to feel something was bothering Kintsuke. He saw it each time they paused to rest for a night in her distant stare and how she worried at the claw of her thumb. He managed to catch her gaze and questioned her with a silent tilt of his head.

She allowed her expression to speak for her. No, there was nothing wrong. …Well, yes, there was, but Jaken was around.

Sesshoumaru sent the imp off to fetch water from a distant river, then questioned her again. Kintsuke took a moment to put her words together, looking away from him.

“There’s…something I need to know…”

“And what would that be?”

She rose slowly, brushing a bit of grass from her hakama before striding around the fire to stand near him. He felt himself sit just a touch straighter, looking up at her. Her lips worked silently. Then, she grew bold.

"Show me your poison."

Her determination made him curious, and he consented without hesitation. She stiffened slightly as he pulled back a sleeve and offered her a hand, glowing noxious green. Slowly, she did the same, hand hovering just above the radiating toxins. 

She lowered her hand gradually, and Sesshoumaru gauged when she'd come too close. He turned his hand to the side, just out of reach, when her skin began turning red.

"Don't," she said quietly.

He did not move when she reached for his hand again. Red crept further across her palm and down her fingers. She showed no sign of pain.

“What are you doing?” 

Kintsuke didn’t answer. He watched the redness sneak down toward her wrist and crawl up the sides of her palm. Her youki thrummed between them, pushing back against his poison. Then, it ignited, blue and black, and crisp. 

_‘The nullifying flames. I see, now. You seek to test their strength.’_

Sesshoumaru spread his fingers wide and sent up a light spray of acid. It disappeared into the blue. Kintsuke smiled. She pushed farther with her blue and black, leaving his skin momentarily bare where the flames kissed. He prepared to show her a minor trick of his own, but she pulled her hand away, letting her fire die. He couldn’t quite place the look in her eyes as she thanked him and returned to her place on the other side of the fire. 

***

The uncertainty that had been eating away at her for days finally subsided. Kintsuke knew his poison signature now. If he turned on her, she wouldn’t have to waste precious time in combat tweaking her blue fire. It put her at ease…for a time. After all, her fire was only usable when she was in her half-demon state.

Kintsuke was not ignorant of just how much faster the moon cycle seemed to pass as she traveled with Sesshoumaru. This wasn’t like the castle, where even he couldn’t interfere with her disappearing on the same day every month, and she didn’t fancy having to contrive an excuse each time. Sesshoumaru was too keen. She was certain he would follow her at least once, and then he would know.

 _‘I have to make it seem like something else,’_ she thought as they turned south to follow the coast of the bay. _‘Something we can both profit from.’_

The more she thought about it, though, the more she came to realize that any tale she spun would eventually be unraveled. There was no sense in trying to hide or lie about this. Doing so would only upset him, she was sure, exposing her, and possibly even Inuyasha, to the daiyoukai’s violent scorn. 

_‘If he truly wants me near, he’ll find a way to deal with it. He traveled with Rin before, didn’t he? And she was just a child. This wouldn’t be much different from that. I can look after myself as a human far better than she could, so it shouldn’t be more than a mild inconvenience.’_

She was growing to trust Sesshoumaru, experiencing for herself the nuanced changes she felt even the Inu no Taishou would be proud of. With each passing day, the son was growing into the man his father wanted him to be. Still, her stomach turned at the thought of revealing her shame to this ever-dastardly demon.


	3. Human

They reached the southern border of Sesshoumaru’s territory and began turning West. Wanting an unhindered discussion, Sesshoumaru left Jaken huddling near a campfire on the bay. Kintsuke followed him atop A-Un, and she described each area they could see at his request. Even from here, they could spot the top-most peak of Hachiokayama. What should have been a jagged tip was nearly flat.

“Much of the mountain was damaged in the decade-long struggle,” she explained. “Within, it is all but hollow. One day, it will collapse under its own weight. Yoichi-kun advised no one take shelter within, but many have ignored his warning.”

“Yoichi?”

“An…associate of mine, a demon of the earth.”

‘ _That male thing I smelled on her_ ,’ he concluded. ‘ _She still refers to him in a friendly manner.’_

Sesshoumaru didn’t like that; and he didn’t like the way she seemed to gaze further inland, perhaps toward her own territory.

_ ‘Leave it behind, female _ .’

His mokomoko flicked on its own, laying across the back of the saddle where Kintsuke sat. Her shoulders stiffened just so. She tugged lightly at the dragon’s reins, pushing a bit further South, and leaving his mokomoko to fall around his own feet as she continued to describe the territories they could see.

“I believe that’s the Boar tribe valley,” she commented, then glanced to the coast and hesitated.

Sesshoumaru glanced there as well, then to Kintsuke, waiting for her to continue. 

Kintsuke examined the beach and its near-by bamboo forest. It seemed somehow familiar to her, but she couldn’t quite place it. Then, she remembered. 

‘ _Is this it? Is this the place I found my parents back then?’_

She lifted a hand mindlessly to the old bone pendant she still wore tucked under her kimono. The speech she’d carefully crafted for Sesshoumaru was forgotten. Her words simply came.

“Tell me something, Sesshoumaru.”

She knew he was looking at her, but she dared not do the same.

“Were I human, would you still ask me to assist you?”

She felt him frown just so.

“Why do you ask such a thing?”

“Because I need to know before the moon waxes half-full.”

Sesshoumaru was silent for a time, slipping his chilled hands into the warmth of his sleeves. Was this her way of indicating she wished to return to her territory? Did she not, in fact, wish to assist him? No, had that been the case, she would have said as much that night on the cliff. Kintsuke was not one to obfuscate her desires or to act against her will. She looked at him with a determination he knew well.

“If something like that is enough to put you off, I’ll return now to my mountains and await your crusade.”

His inner demon snarled at the thought. No. Her place was at his side! 

“Do you wish to return?” he asked tersely.

“I didn’t say that.”

“Then why insinuate?”

“I am simply making my intentions known.”

Sesshoumaru closed his eyes for a long moment. He met her gaze, unwilling to be misunderstood.

“Fire is not your only useful attribute.”

Kintsuke nodded slowly, considering his words.

“…What you speak of, is it an illness?” he asked.

She laughed sardonically and glanced up to find the nearly half-full moon.

“No.”

She could feel his silent question.

“I’ll show you in a couple of days.”

Nothing more was said on the matter. They completed their survey, retrieved Jaken, and continued West.

***

Sesshoumaru pondered his conversation with Kintsuke as the days passed. What could she mean by ‘if she were human?’ She was not ill and bore no other affliction that he could tell. She was nervous around him now, and as the moon rose half-full in the night sky, she was restless. From his branch higher in their tree, he watched her watch the horizon. Once silver started bleeding into the ultramarine, Kintsuke glanced up at him, and he understood. It was time.

Kintsuke lowered herself quietly into the snow and snaked her way deeper into the dark forest. After ensuring Jaken was still asleep, Sesshoumaru followed. By the time he arrived, she’d cleared away the lesser demons from a small cave and was stripping their clothes. He watched from a polite distance as she prepared to settle in the cave for the day, judging from the amount of wood she gathered. 

‘ _Her youki is weakening.’_

When she was comfortable on her pallet, Sesshoumaru approached, blinking at her from the cave entrance. She did not look at him.

“Dawn,” she said, answering his unspoken question.

Sesshoumaru gathered his mokomoko beneath himself and settled in to wait. 

‘ _How strange. Her jyaki has disappeared, and her youki is nearly gone. Is something draining her power?’_

When the sun finally broke the horizon, Kintsuke shuddered, and Sesshoumaru understood her meaning from before. It took only a few moments. Her ears flicked and disappeared beneath the hair that was turning black from root to tip, her claws shrank into flimsy nails, her eyes darkened from yellow to brown, and the last of her youki disappeared. Every demonic trait was gone. She shivered deeper into her haori, nothing more than human now.

“Explain,” he demanded.

Kintsuke smirked wryly as she continued to watch the fire.

“I’ll be like this until the sun sets. My demon isn’t gone, just…sleeping. I cannot stop it, and at least it happens always on the same day.”

“How long have you been this way?”

“Since I was born.”

Sesshoumaru blinked. That would mean she’d suffered this while under his service as well. How was it he never knew, never even suspected? 

‘ _Her days of rest,’_ he realized, ‘ _the only thing this Sesshoumaru could not dictate. Father must have known and assigned her that day to keep this hidden from the others at the castle.’_

“How did you manage to hide this from Zheng and your associates?”

“My mother was half-breed, too, remember? Zheng already knew. As for the others, I found a way.

She shrugged. Sesshoumaru rose and strode to loom over her. Her heart skipped and raced, and she shrank from him. He leaned to hook a knuckle under her chin, forcing her to look at him. She cast her eyes to the side, but he could tell there was nothing of their former yellow left, and not a speck of white in her hair. Even his keen senses could find nothing of the demon she’d been only minutes before.

“Only human,” he mused.

Kintsuke turned her head away from his hand and looked again at the fire. Sesshoumaru straightened and stepped away.

“Who else knows of this?”

She licked her lips.

“Only you.”

“You place much trust in this Sesshoumaru.”

“Can I?” She looked up at him. “Can I trust you? Or should I return to Suruga?”

Sesshoumaru pursed his lips slightly and tucked his hands into his sleeves. 

“I’m not helpless like this. I can still fight if I need to, and even the priestesses and monks can’t tell I was ever a demon.”

Her words sounded wrong. Was she pleading with him? No, the Kintsuke he knew did not plead or beg. Then again, the Kintsuke he knew was a demon. This was her human form, frail of body and spirit…but not ineffectual. Sesshoumaru understood humans to speak freely with one another and pass news quickly, and he did need to keep an eye on that human General.

“Until sunset, correct?” he clarified.

Kintsuke considered for a moment, then nodded.

“I can catch up easily enough then. Don’t delay yourself on my account.”

She returned once more to her fire, holding her hands to the heat. Sesshoumaru’s first inclination was to leave. It was clear Kintsuke could take care of herself even now, and he did have business to tend to with the Boar tribe nearby. Watching her shiver in the tenuous safety of this tiny cave, however, he could not bring himself to turn away. Instead, he slid his mokomoko from his shoulder, coiled it around her, and returned to the entrance. 

“Do not say such foolish things.”


	4. Confirmation

The weeks passed quickly. Rumors of unrest came from the enormous Shinano Province, which comprised much of the Western lands. Sesshoumaru sent Kintsuke to investigate while he conferenced with Commander Hiken of the Ravens.

All was mostly well in the North. The few insurgents that had managed to amass a small amount of power were easily brought to heel by Hiken’s Murders. Oddly, a few of the notably gifted demons had gone missing.

“Fallen to the insurgents, perhaps,” Sesshoumaru mused.

Hiken shook his head.

“Maybe, but Himari and Ichika are too strong to have been bothered by them. The others I am unsure about.”

“Find out.”

With nothing more to say, Sesshoumaru departed, making for Shinano.

As he bounded through the clouds, he caught sight of the moon. The crescent was waxing. Soon, Kintsuke would change again. The very concept still sat ill with him. As he thought back on the day in the cave, Sesshoumaru realized his haste in accepting her temporary enfeeblement was rooted solely in his desire for her to stay. It was true her human form would be advantageous in keeping track of that Nobunaga General, but…

It had been unspoken but understood when he’d asked Kintsuke to follow him that he would accept her more or less as she was and see to her general well-being in exchange for her presence and efforts. Not so dissimilar to the agreement between a lord and vassal. He had been prepared and willing to manage her eventual demonic transformation born from desperation, as he had learned from Inuyasha half-breeds sometimes underwent. He had even decided he would use Tenseiga in the unlikely event that she fell in battle.

Sesshoumaru could not, however, bring himself to accept that the human thing he’d seen, degraded and ignoble, was the same as the female for which he’d developed a regard.

Kintsuke met him just inside Shinano’s northern border. He watched her closely as she dismounted A-Un and came to stand before him. Brimming with youki, carrying that rich, molten scent, and with eyes like yellow jade; this being, this was his Kintsuke.

“What did you discover?” he asked.

“Concerning the humans, Nobunaga has taken the region. As for the demons, it would seem the unrest is only within the Hebi tribe. In short, they are at an impasse about your rule. A few members of their Council of Nine are looking to use the fight it will cause to oust those that support you from the Council. If they are successful, they’ll take Shinano with them.”

Jaken worried from behind Sesshoumaru.

“Losing Shinano would greatly weaken your hold on the West, my lord.”

Sesshoumaru thought for a moment. The Hebi tribe was powerful but treacherous. Subtlety and deceit were in their very nature, and even his father had been careful in his dealings with them. The way forward was clear, but the timing would be critical.

“When will the fighting begin?”

“The political maneuverings are well underway. I estimate another week or so before things grow violent. If I may, your presence at that time would not go unnoticed by the survivors.”

“Why do you state the obvious?” Jaken squawked hypocritically

Kintsuke narrowed her piercing eyes at the imp just so, and after a moment, he shifted to hide completely behind his master. Sesshoumaru withheld a smile.

***

Kintsuke was pleased when Sesshoumaru sent Jaken, not her, off with A-Un to appraise Rekkonji of the impending conflict. She liked the dragon well enough but flying still made her nervous. Sesshoumaru took his time leading them through the snow so he could refresh his memory of the terrain where the Hebi tribe resided. It was mountainous, with plenty of hidden paths and crevices to hide in. The task of rooting out each vassal of the offending Council members would be painstaking.

“They will flee South,” Sesshoumaru concluded.

Kintsuke agreed.

“That would be the easiest escape route from this place. North and East are too dangerous for them to risk. Even if they fled West toward the sea, they would eventually have to turn South to escape you.”

Sesshoumaru’s lip quirked.

“None shall escape.”

Kintsuke couldn’t help but smile.

They returned to the plains outside the Hebi tribe territory just in time. That damnable day was nearly upon her again, and she needed to find somewhere to sequester. There were no caves outside the Hebi territory, and she dared not use one within their borders, so she settled for a thick of bamboo. With the boulder she found at her back, she would only have to keep an eye open in three directions.

Thankfully, she did not have to say anything to remind Sesshoumaru. Either he remembered on his own, or her constant vigil on the moon reminded him. She expected him to continue on his way without her, but instead, he perched atop the boulder she’d chosen, watching her gather wood. Kintsuke was silently grateful for the extra pair of eyes. With the last of her youki, she started her fire, then settled in for another long day. 

The cold was excessively bitter here. Despite the thicket breaking up the howling wind beyond it and building her fire higher, Kintsuke was freezing. She was going to need more wood. As she rose to prepare to fetch it, something luxuriously soft and warm fell to coil around her. Sesshoumaru’s mokomoko clung to her form, instantly fending off the cold. Her human heart skipped.

Cautiously, she glanced up at him.

The daiyoukai sat meditatively, legs crossed and arms in his sleeves. She wanted to ask him ‘why,’ but the words wouldn’t come. She slowly settled herself again, hiding completely under the fur. 

Save for the occasional thump from the wind shaking snow free, all was calm and quiet. In the comfort of his mokomoko, and under Sesshoumaru's careful watch, Kintsuke nearly allowed herself to doze off for a while. 

Shifting from above sometime later snapped her back to attention, and she peeked out to see Sesshoumaru alight down beside her. 

"What is-?"

He covered her face again with his fur.

"Stay here."

He was almost soundless as he strode away, gone when Kintsuke dared sneak another peek. Had he heard something? Seen something? The thought put her rightfully on edge. She shifted up into a crouch, drawing her tonfa as something howled its death in the distance. 

Ice crackled from behind her, crawling along the boulder to cover it thickly. She pushed away just in time, shrugging out of the mokomoko to flash her tonfa at the mangey crystalline form that snarled down at her. An ice hound, jagged and emaciated. She tensed.

‘ _They never travel alone. That’s what Sesshoumaru found.’_

As though responding to her thought of him, the daiyoukai was suddenly above her, poison decimating the foul creature in an instant. But there were more. There were always more. The snow crunched beneath their paws as they abandoned obfuscation and closed in from either side. She felt Sesshoumaru at her back and understood they were going to split the pack. As he went on the offensive, Kintsuke waited for the hounds to strike.

The first two lost their jaws to her tonfa. A third she kicked back into a fourth. She ducked from another, gutting it as it passed, and the next didn’t even get the chance to lunge. Sesshoumaru’s claws left it in shreds, and Kintsuke finished off the two she’d left jawless. She retreated to press her back to Sesshoumaru again, listening, watching, waiting. After a moment, she felt him relax just so.

“They’re gone.”

Kintsuke sighed with relief. She took a moment to wipe her blades clean in a white patch of snow before tucking them away and examining the scene. One of the hounds had knocked over her fire, a stretch of bamboo was missing, and Sesshoumaru’s fur was splattered with blood.

‘ _Well…shit…’_

She carefully gathered the stained mokomoko and tried to brush the blood away to no avail. It would need to be washed. She ducked her head as Sesshoumaru strode over.

“I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I should have been paying better attention.”

His silence drew her gaze up to him. She couldn’t place the look on his face as he thumbed a bit of blood gently from her cheek. She shuddered, but not from the cold. There was something balmy in his countenance as he closed his eyes and turned away, aiming out of the forest and toward the plains.

“We’re leaving, Kintsuke.”

She blinked after him for a moment, unsure what to do with the mokomoko still piled in her arms. It moved on its own, snaking around her shoulders and torso and leaving her arms free. She ran her fingers through the impossible softness, finding comfort in the way it held her tightly.

Sesshoumaru forced himself to slow his pace so Kintsuke could keep up as he sought out another safe place for her to hide. The ice hounds had shown him what he needed most to see today, that she was, in whatever form, still the same female, and always would be. He still had his reservations, but like his attachment to Tessaiga, they would fade with time.

And they had so very much time…

Deep inside, the cracking bundle of frozen sentiment he’d shoved away long ago finally began to melt.


	5. Hebi

Rekkonji joined Sesshoumaru and Kintsuke almost a week later near the mountainous territory of the Hebi tribe. Truth be told, he was looking forward to the battle. In his mind, they were deserving of every ounce of pain they would now suffer after having ousted Hiken and his tribe from their ancestral home here. Territories belonged to those strong enough to defend them, true, but it was the way the slimy bastards had gone about it that sat ill with the jackal. This was the price for their dishonor.

The plan was simple. Sesshoumaru would wait for the fighting to begin so he could identify those loyal to him, who would be fewer in number, while Rekkonji and Kintsuke would manage anyone fleeing the territory. Once the dust settled, the survivors would be sorted through, and any remaining vassals of the dead Council members executed. It was the best way to ensure the sentiments of their masters did not fester.

“I wonder if Tsukina will be among the members that have to die,” Kintsuke mused.

Rekkonji rose a brow.

“Why does it matter?”

“It doesn’t, I’m just curious. From what I remember reading, only certain lines are permitted on the Council of Nine. I can’t imagine someone capable of shattering that ancient tradition would be stupid enough to oppose Sesshoumaru.”

Rekkonji hummed in agreement.

As the sun peaked, the sounds of combat began echoing through the ravines and crags. Sesshoumaru left them to find an inconspicuous vantage point. A plunging dip between two peaks had been leveled out and served as the meeting area for the Council. Ravines branched away from the dip in several directions. Gathered in them were higher-ranking members of the tribe, watching their nine leaders, who had come to blows. One by one, they unfurled into their demon forms. Eight were brightly colored and bore elegant designs. The last was a bit smaller and colored in drab earthen tones. They slithered and coiled and struck at one another, and soon, two groups were clearly defined.

Sesshoumaru quickly memorized the colors of the six who opposed him. 

As soon as the first serpent fell, several of the demons waiting in the ravines tore away to flee. Sesshoumaru saw now that the colors and designs of their robes match that of the dead serpent and understood.

‘ _How kind of them to mark my prey so blatantly.’_

Flashing fangs quickly culled three more, leaving only two supportive of him. Dancing colors caught his attention, and Sesshoumaru glanced to find the tell-tale dark light of Kintsuke’s fire. When he returned his gaze to the battlefield, only four serpents remained. One of his enemies had slithered off. Sesshoumaru’s brow twitched. The mess of the fight left no visible trail, but their absence presented the opportunity Sesshoumaru had been waiting for. He could hunt the other after.

In a single graceful leap, he introduced himself in his own snarling demonic form. Enormous paws crushed one of the opposing serpent’s skulls. The second he batted into the mountain wall as it struck at him. The remaining two, one colorful and one drab, curled back onto themselves defensively, tongues flicking furiously. He growled low at them. They both shrank into humanoid forms and eased toward a ravine.

The remaining serpent recovered itself and struck at him again. Sesshoumaru dodged and snapped his jaws around its neck. He shook the thing furiously, slamming its body into the ground and walls until the head broke off. Momentarily lost in his bloodlust, he crushed the head under a paw and tore the rest of the body to shreds. His point made, he turned again to his two remaining supporters, and resumed his own humanoid guise. Cautiously, they came to meet him.

“One escaped,” he said.

The drab-colored female spoke.

“Haka, ever the coward. Hiding with hisss vassalsss, no doubt.”

The female indicated one of the ravines on the other side. 

Sesshoumaru noticed as she spoke that the Hebi retained more of their animalistic features than other greater youkai. Initially, he’d thought it an illusion of their clothing, as he’d not seen one this close before. Their faces were narrower with eyes set a bit further apart, their ‘hair’ was a series of layered hardened scales, and instead of ears, there were only holes with a single protective scale they could move.

“I will allow you this one chance to gather your people and leave. Do not return until the moon is full.”

Her bow was exaggerated, her tone almost mockingly sweet.

“How very kind of you, Lord Ssesshoumaru. Kofu and I will be out of your way quickly.”

 _‘Kofu,’_ he thought, memorizing the male in reds. ‘ _Then, this female must be Tsukina. How amusing.’_

Sesshoumaru left the pair to their task and started down the ravine Tsukina had indicated to begin his hunt for Haka. A single serpent, demon form or no, would be no match for him.

Over the following weeks, Sesshoumaru, Rekkonji, and Kintsuke rooted out the last vestiges of opposition from the Hebi tribe mountains and the surrounding area. Kofu and Tsukina rebuilt the Council of Nine. After making himself well-known to the new members, Sesshoumaru departed with Kintsuke, and Rekkonji returned to his home in the North. The upset balance of power in the West gradually righted itself under Sesshoumaru’s merciless ministrations, and as the snows began to melt, he felt confident he could leave them for now. It was time to visit his Rin again.

***

As Sesshoumaru reclaimed his hold over the Western lands, Inuyasha was fighting a battle of his own in the East.

“Kagome, you do this every time Eiko leaves. She always comes back fine. What’s got you so worried?”

The aging priestess continued braiding away her greying hair to hide it as best she could.

“She’s still so small, Inuyasha. What if something goes wrong?”

Inuyasha smirked.

“Well, then I guess I’ll just have to kill Kohaku and Mirohizu for failing to protect our daughter.”

Kagome shot him a scathing look.

“I’m kidding,” he insisted.

Kagome huffed, fingers tangling her braid in her frustration. Inuyasha moved to sit next to her, gently untangling her fingers and giving them a kiss before fixing his mate’s hair.

“Listen,” he said kindly, “if she wants to run off to learn to fight demons like Sango’s family, then you gotta let her. Eiko’s mostly human, but she’s still part demon. You can’t tame the wild streak that causes.”

Finally, she sighed, reaching back to place a hand over Inuyasha’s.

“I know you’re right. I guess I just can’t stop remembering what our journey was like back then. We had so many close calls.”

The hanyou abandoned the hair and wrapped his arms around his beloved. He held her until she calmed completely, then left her to finish readying for dinner. Outside, the sun had long disappeared, leaving the moon to reflect off the thinning snow.

Inuyasha followed the path through the frozen rice patties to his old forest, going farther than even the Bone-Eater’s well. He would have continued on, but the one he sought was already returning. A boy no higher than his chest, human in every visible way, save for his silver hair, raced through the trees from wherever he had been playing and stopped short to meet his father. Inuyasha crossed his arms.

“Thought I told you not to leave this forest once it gets dark…” he scolded.

“I know, dad, I’m sorry. I was trying to find that flower mom was talking about.”

The boy scuffed his bare foot at the snow a bit.

“Yeah? And?”

“Um…”

His son wouldn’t look at him. Inuyasha knew what that meant. He tried to sound understanding.

“Touzen, you know you can tell me if something happened. Was it a demon?”

Touzen shook his head.

“Then what?”

“I… You know the little creek that runs off from the river? I think there’s something over there.”

Inuyasha knew he wouldn’t get much more from his son tonight.

“Oh yeah? Why don’t you show me tomorrow.”

Touzen nodded and fell into step beside his father to return to the village.


	6. Touzen's Discovery

As promised, the next morning, Touzen led his father out to where he had been playing the night before. He’d been further than Inuyasha initially thought. None of the patrols came this far out, and glancing back, he couldn’t even see the village anymore.

“Damnit, kid, we gave you one rule for running around out here,” he grumped.

They followed the creek a bit more, then Touzen stopped and pointed to a far cluster of rocks and bushes on either side of the water.

“Over there.”

Inuyasha gave it a once over.

_‘Nothing suspicious so far.’_

“What happened when you went over there?”

Touzen ran his hands together, trying to find the words.

“I think… I’m not sure. I just felt really sick and weak.”

“Uh-huh… Stay here.”

Touzen planted his feet obediently as his father strolled slowly closer to the spot. From what Inuyasha could tell, there was nothing here. No demons, no bandits, not even…

Tessaiga shuddered, and he set a hand on its hilt.

_‘But there’s nothing here, Tessaiga. …Wait. That’s the problem. There’s nothing. I can’t even smell any demons that might have passed by recently. And this air, it’s too clean; but there’s no reiki around.’_

Inuyasha paused a few yards from the cluster. He could feel something twisting inside him like a bad headache. The longer he stood there, the worse it got. Whatever was going on here, he didn’t like it. Inuyasha returned to his son and swept him onto his shoulders, bounding swiftly back to the village. He knocked before ducking his head inside Rin’s hut.

“Hey, can you keep an eye on this one? Make sure he doesn’t go running off anywhere.”

He dropped Touzen inside as Rin waved, used to this. Her daughter, Izu, gaped excitedly at Touzen.

“What did you do this time?!”

Inuyasha left to fetch Kagome and Miroku, easily keeping up with their horses as they returned to the place Touzen had shown him. He gave Kagome a hand down and watched from a safer distance while the two spiritualists inspected the area.

“This place, it’s so…calm and clean,” she said with wonder. “I can’t sense anything at all.”

“Nor I,” said the monk with worry. “It’s unnatural.”

 _‘If even they’re worried, this isn’t good,’_ Inuyasha thought.

The trio took their time examining the area around the creek before homing in on the cluster of rocks and bushes Touzen had indicated. Inuyasha tried to get closer, but the headache came back. He endured it this time, hoping relaying his symptoms would help their search. Tessaiga shuddered at his hip as he began to stumble, woozy.

_‘I don’t get it. What’s going on?’_

“Back away, Inuyasha. Lady Kagome has found something.”

The hanyou gave no argument and moved to stand by the horses. He watched Kagome kneel with care and run her fingers along the ground between a pair of large stones. With Miroku’s help, she unearthed a strange-looking vessel, roughly carved from rock. Neither recognized the symbols and no matter how they tried, they couldn’t find a way to open the thing.

“Just break it!” Inuyasha called.

“We don’t know what will happen!” Miroku retorted.

They didn’t feel anything, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t something inside the vessel. A ravenous spirit, perhaps? Something else? In the end, they decided to try Inuyasha’s plan. He distanced himself from the horses and drew his Tessaiga. It felt weaker, somehow… Kagome notched an arrow, ready to aim, but when Miroku managed to smash the vessel on the rocks, nothing happened. Slowly, Kagome lowered her bow.

“Empty?”

Miroku knelt and brushed through the pieces.

“No. Have a look at this.”

Inuyasha followed his mate cautiously, but even as he loomed behind Miroku, he felt nothing. No headache, no fatigue.

“Is that a sutra?”

“If so, it is unlike any I have ever seen.”

Miroku plucked the strip of paper from the rubble and carefully brushed it off so they could all see it.

“Can you make it out?” Kagome blinked up at the monk. “What does it say?”

“Maybe. I would like to consult my notes before making assumptions.”

“Hang on, you’re not bringing that back with us, are you?” Inuyasha snipped.

“Unless you would like to bring my library to me, in which case, I would be ever so grateful,” Miroku beamed.

Inuyasha grumped.

“Fine, but let me see it first.”

Miroku let his friend inspect the paper. Finding nothing strange or threatening, other than the unknown script, Inuyasha consented to bringing it and a few pieces of the shattered vessel back with them. Kagome disappeared with Miroku, and for the next several days, they poured over their experience and Miroku’s notes trying to decipher the odd script. Inuyasha and Sango scoured the area around their village, searching for anything similar to what Touzen had found, but thankfully came up short. Whatever the vessel was, it was the only one of its kind for miles around.

***

Sesshoumaru was not the only one heading for the village. He glided leisurely through the clouds, followed by A-Un bearing a dozing Kintsuke and Jaken. Below, Sesshoumaru spotted a familiar feline with twin tails and fire around its paws, leading a trio of horses in the same direction. He knew who they were, but did not slow his pace, knowing they would meet at their mutual destination. A-Un descended first, landing in the glittering fields beyond the village’s empty rice patties. Sesshoumaru secured a bundle under his arm as he alighted down, landing nearly on Rin’s doorstep. There was no need for knocking.

“Lord Sesshoumaru!”

The straw flap swept aside a moment later. It was not Rin who greeted him, however, but her daughter, Izu. He accepted the adolescent’s invitation inside.

“Mom is out checking the rice stocks with dad. Would you like me to go get her?”

Sesshoumaru found and settled into his usual place, setting the bundle beside him.

“I will wait.”

He allowed himself to relax just so, watching the spitting image of his dear Rin prepare tea and warm a bowl of fruit seeds they kept specifically for his visits. Sesshoumaru did not eat human food, but the somewhat toxic apple, peach, and apricot seeds were a treat.

“You are well, Izu?”

“Very well, thank you for your concern, my lord.”

Unlike her brother, Jin, Izu did not blather on excitedly whenever Sesshoumaru visited, so he was able to relish a bit of peace until, finally, his ward appeared. Rin’s smile still shone like the sun, but her human frailties were showing more and more. Perhaps that was why Sesshoumaru chose to visit more often, because soon, in what was considered a blink of an eye to him, she would be forced to return to that dark place where even he could not reach her.

When that time came, not even Tenseiga would be able to bring her back to him.


End file.
